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June is looking pretty busy...
The Alverstoke Garden Walkabout is back this year! Running over two days, you can wander around beautiful local gardens while helping to raise money for the Parish Centre Regeneration at the same time - everyone wins! All the details, including when and how to get your tickets, are inside.
There’s lots of celebrating happening this month! From Pimm’s in the Park at Crescent Garden to Lee Hub’s 5th anniversary celebrations and St Faith’s Summer Fete, it’s all going on. Montserrat Events are hosting some superb events, and The Vine will be opening on Friday nights throughout June and July - check out their advert for details of the live music planned! Plus, there’s the annual garden sale in aid of Rowans Hospice, running nights, litterpicking dates, coffee mornings, and more. See? Lot’s happening - you’ll find it all inside.
A date for your diary before July fills up is the St Mark’s Churchyard Open Day on 11th July. More information next month.
Do you have a clock that’s stopped working?
A toaster that’s no longer producing good toast? Or perhaps your vacuum has lost its vava-voom? If you have something broken that needs repairing, bring it along to The Gosport Repair Café at Alverstoke Parish Centre this month. Details are inside - just make sure you book a slot.
Do you get a soggy bottom?
Or is your cake base always perfect? If baking is your thing, your cakes get demolished, and you’re used to hearing plenty of “mmms”, you
You may want to consider entering The Great Lee Bake Off! St Faith’s Church is organising a Bake Off charity cake sale - details are inside!
If you’d like some inspiration, all the recipes that have featured in this magazine can be found on our website at gosportchoice.com
Looking for a cat sitter? Need your bathroom redone, carpets replaced, your garden landscaped, or perhaps a good massage? I have advertisers inside who can help with all these things and more. Please let them know you found them in Choice Magazine!
Are you a local business looking for more customers? Book an advert in my next edition - I’d love to help, and you’ll love my circulation figures and prices!
If you have an event you’d like shared in the next edition simply go to the ‘submit an event’ button at gosportchoice.com
Wishing a very Happy Father’s Day to my Pa and all the fathers and father figures out there!
Have a lovely June, everyone!
Alverstoke Village Podiatry
Sometimes only ice cream will do!
I made this super-quick and delicious ice cream in just a few minutes. You can use any frozen fruit you like. The recipe serves two, with a generous three scoops each. You can easily double or triple the recipe, as long as your blender is big enough.
I’d definitely recommend freezing some seasonal strawberries to use in this recipe, but any frozen fruit works just as well!
Prep 5 mins
Serves 2
Ingredients:
• 100g oat creme fraiche or dairy full fat creme fraiche or full fat yoghurt
• 200g frozen fruit of your choice
• 1 tsp agave or honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
Put all the ingredients into a blender, and whizz on high speed until smooth and the consistency of ice-cream. Serve immediately, scooped into glasses. If you do have leftovers, transfer to freezer-proof tubs and keep in the freezer for up to two days. Take the ice-cream out of the freezer 10 minutes before serving to soften up.
Recipe from Anna Jones annajones.co.uk
HIDDEN TREASURES HIDDEN TREASURES
51-53 HIGH STREET LEE ON THE SOLENT
We urgently require your broken and unwanted gold, jewellery and antiques.
Any amount, any condition- top CASH prices paid!
PRE 1947 COINS (SILVER) WANTED
WANTED gold - silver - jewellery of all kinds medals (any militaria) - cuff links - studs - tie pins pocket watches - wrist watches antiques - moorcroft - clarice cliff - old postcards
WANTED - rolex, breitling, omega etc
Please call in to see us. Monday - Saturday 10am-6pm. Alternatively, call to arrange a home appointment
TELEPHONE: 023 9255 3428 MOBILE: 07767 304495
If you stroll eastwards across Crescent Garden and then down the little twisting path that leads to the far corner of the garden you will pass, on your left, a rather remarkable plant. It is a small bush covered with brilliant crimson lantern shaped flowers, each one about 2.5 cms long and hanging on its own pendulous stem from the bough above it. This is the Chilean Lantern Tree (Crinodendron hookerianum). As its name rather tells us it is native to southern Chile and is found in the wild as an understory component, often near watercourses, in Nothofagus rain forest.
C. hookerianum was introduced into Britain in 1848 by the Cornish plant collector, William Lobb for Veitch Nurseries in Exeter. As was so often the case in that era the plant’s name was derived partly from a classical language and partly from the name of a famous plant person. In Ancient Greek krinon means lily and dendron means tree, so ‘tree lily’ was its first name. The specific name, hookerianum, came from William James Hooker who was director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew at that time and had studied many South American plants.
As may be assumed from its native home it grows best in wooded areas, in fertile, moist but well drained acid soil in partial shade. It will grow in sunshine, but the roots need to be kept cool. It can be badly affected by frost; the plant will survive a really heavy frost, but will not flower well in the following summer. This is partly because the flower buds form in autumn and have to survive the winter in order to produce their wonderful display between May and August. It’s position in Crescent Garden is ideal, lightly shaded by various trees and well protected; especially with global warming
Crescent Garden
JUNE
there is very rarely a severe enough frost to damage it. The tree cover also prevents it from getting too much sun, which might affect its ability to flower well. As well as its attractive appearance another feature which makes it an ideal garden subject is that it is almost entirely pest and disease free. It can look spectacular and has been likened to a Christmas tree hung with baubles. The flowers contain rich nectar, which in this country attracts bees, butterflies and moths. In its native country it is often pollinated by humming birds. One characteristic not so acceptable in the garden is the fact that, like many of our favourite garden plants it is slightly poisonous, containing cucurbitacins, so named because of their occurrence in the cucumber family, Cucurbitaceae. It is, however, used in folk medicine in Chile.
With its preference for cool summers, mild winters and plenty of moisture it is ideally suited to maritime areas, such as the West coast of Scotland and Ireland. There is one in County Wicklow in Ireland which is thought to be one of the original plants introduced by William Lobb in the nineteenth century. It is now 13 metres tall and 148cms in girth on multiple stems. Fortunately the plants grows very slowly, so ours is unlikely to become intrusive in its present position in Crescent Garden. Another prize specimen of the Chilean Lantern Tree is in Nymans Garden, near Cuckfield in West Sussex.
So a fascinating and attractive plant eminently suitable for your own garden, but there to be admired by all in Crescent Garden.
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I am loving the perfumes in the garden right now! And I’m loving the seeds sprout with growth! And the plant deliveries! It’s all grow, grow, grow! Here’s a guide of what to do right now...
Around the garden
• Sow poppies now for and they’ll be flowering in about 8 weeks time!
• Stake and tie in dahlias as they grow
• Deadhead roses and more flowers will follow
• Keep picking your sweet peas and tie them
• Give wisteria its summer prune
• Pinch out the tips of fuchsias and bedding plants to encourage bushier growth
• Mow and edge your lawn to keep it looking good
• Prune evergreen Clematis armandii if it has grown too large
• Cut back delphiniums and oriental poppies
• Clear pond weed
In the Garden
DURING JUNE
In the greenhouse and on the veg patch
• A second sowing of courgettes can be done now
• Plant out tender vegetables raised indoors, including beans, tomatoes, pumpkins, courgettes and sweetcorn
• Pinch out the side shoots of cordon tomatoes regularly
• Keep doing successional sowings of radishes, lettuce and salad leaves.
• Sow herbs in pots now for your windowsill, including coriander and parsley, chives, basil and dill
• Damp down the greenhouse floor every morning if the weather gets really hot.
• Enjoy the last harvests of asparagus this month, then leave the ferny top-growth to grow up over the summer
• Rejuvenate chives by cutting the clump down to the base, for a fresh crop of new leaves in just a few weeks
• Plant out sweetcorn after hardening off
Local Events
FRIENDS OF STANLEY PARK LITTER PICK
Litter pick first Sunday of the month 10-11am Meet in car park at rear of The Alverbank Hotel. Free car parking if you join us in a car, also pickers, gloves etc.
COFFEE MORNING
Alverstoke Parish Centre 10.30am-12noon. Every fourth Tuesday of the month. £4 for coffee/tea & cake. Book stall and raffle. All proceeds towards Regeneration Project.
CATS PROTECTION
27th June. 8.30am-3.30pm. Gosport Market Cat-themed goods and donated items for sale. Volunteers available to give cat-care advice. Donations of cat food welcome. 13th June. 9.30am-4pm. Asda Newgate Lane Cat care information, branded Cats Protection giveaways and cat-themed items for sale. Cat care advice from knowledgeable volunteers. Cat food donations welcomed
FRIENDS OF ST MARK’S CHURCHYARD OPEN DAY
Saturday 11th July 2-5pm St Mark’s Road, Alverstoke Tea, coffee, cake and refreshments on sale to all who come to visit. Come and see how this beautiful place is being cared for by our expanding gang of volunteers.
ADVERTISE YOUR EVENT
Visit gosportchoice.com and head to the ‘submit an event’ button from the menu.
Local Events
THE REPAIR CAFE AT ALVERSTOKE PARISH CENTRE Saturday 13th June 10.30am-1pm. Green Rd, Gosport Bring your broken items to have them fixed on the spot with the help of voluntary repair experts. Book in advance. Message on FB, mail@repaircafegosport.co.uk or leave a message at: 023 9298 3802. www.repaircafegosport.co.uk/book-a-repair
STOKES BAY WI
Meet 3rd Tuesday of the month. St Mary’s Parish Centre, Alverstoke. 10am-12noon. Our motto is ‘Inspiring Friendship and Fun’. We enjoy companionship and laughter in our meetings, outings, special events and interest groups. Find us on Facebook and www.stokesbaywi.co.uk
SHORE LEAVE HASLAR MEMORIAL GARDEN Wednesday 10th June 11am-2pm. Free entry, donations gratefully accepted. Crafts, plants, produce for sale. Homemade cake and drinks. Walk around the peaceful garden. Please park in main Haslar site.
MONTHLY QUIZ - POWDER MONKEY TAP HOUSE
7pm Last Thursday of the month. Priddy’s Hard, Gosport. Book ahead to avoid missing out. Max 6 per team. £2 pp. Call 023 9252 3970.
CROFTON PROBUS CLUB Monthly lunch 12pm Last Wednesday of the month. Lee-on-the-Solent Golf Club. Are you a retired gentleman, missing social contact? Come to a trial meeting. New members welcome 07508711299 morton.wouter@gmail.com
W L S
Do you have important legal documents in place to protect your interests and make life easier for you and your family, whatever the future brings?
If you have received a diagnosis of dementia, or are concerned about becoming ill and unable to cope with paying your bills, wouldn’t it be helpful for a family member to be able to step in and deal with your finances? If your family member needed to make decisions for you, instead of just acting on your instructions, they would need your formal written authority to do this.
Formal authority can be given by creating a Lasting Power of Attorney. This document will allow your family member to take over managing your money, either temporarily or long term.
You can also create a Lasting Power of Attorney which allows your family member to make decisions for you about medical treatment, if you are unable for any reason to make your own decisions. This is not the same as an Advance Decision, which is a document which sets out your decision to refuse medical treatment in the future, under specific conditions.
If you are caring for an elderly relative, or are likely to be doing so in the future, a Lasting Power of Attorney will mean that you can provide the support your relative needs and access services on their behalf, without the difficulties, stress and resistance you would otherwise encounter.
Having a Will gives you peace of mind that your money, property and personal possessions will be going to the people you have chosen to benefit. An out of date Will can cause problems within the family or mean that a chosen beneficiary receives nothing.
If you have any unanswered questions about Wills or Lasting Powers of Attorney, Christine will be pleased to help, so do please get in touch for a free, no obligation, chat.
Call Christine Davies Solicitor on 07860 772274 or email: christine@winterbornelegal.co.uk
Christine is a Fully Accredited Member of Solicitors for the Elderly and a Dementia Friend. Christine will visit you in your own home and aims to provide a warm personal touch to every meeting.
Christine Davies Solicitor
Local Events
GOSPORT ROAD RUNNERS
7pm Tues & Thurs each week (except first Tues of the month). Gosport Rugby Club
Membership open to anyone over 18. Be ready to run! We’ll find you someone of a similar pace. Join us free for a few weeks to see if you like us before becoming a member. Info www.gosportroadrunners.org.uk
News from the Parish centre Regeneration...
It's
that time again
Many of your readers will be aware the regeneration of Alverstoke Parish Centre is underway. During the first stages of the project we have built a car park and installed solar panels to future proofed the use of the Hall. The Hall itself has been renovated and many say completely transformed. Outside we have a new patio and and planting is underway to transform the site.
Our fundraising continues for the next stage and the Garden Walkabout is our key event, this year, on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th June. We have 15 very different gardens and the allotments open 1pm to 5pm. In addition the award winning garden at Solent Springs Adventure Golf Course in Stokes Bay is open to view from 4pm to 6pm with our ticket.
Tickets are £10.00 per adult with accompanying children free - one ticket for
ALVERSTOKE GARDEN WALKABOUT
both days. Tickets are available in advance (see poster or website) or on the day from the Parish Centre, Green Road, Alverstoke from 1200 and from participating gardens.
Just £10 for two days entertainment visiting glorious gardens and wandering beside the seaside. Refreshments are available and there will be plant sales.
Please come and enjoy this wonderful event.
Sat 27th & Sun 28th June 1-5pm
Adult - £10 Children FREE Entry
One ticket for both days from Alverstoke Post Office, Alverstoke
Village Hardware and Solent Springs Adventure Golf
Tickets on the day from Parish Centre from midday and participating gardens
All proceeds to Alverstoke Parish Centre Regeneration Project. Registered Charity Name - St Mary’s Alverstoke PCC No. 1130178
New President takes over the reins at Stokes Bay WI
The preparation is done, the day finally arrived, and there were smiles plus a few emotional moments. It was Presidential Handover Day at Stokes Bay WI!
Normally the position is for three years but President Angela MacCallum did a magnificent eight years – now the time has come for her to sit and enjoy being a relaxed ordinary member at meetings!
Angela is a retired Headteacher of a large local infant school. Those skills came to the fore with her teaching of crafts from household recycled items. Now we think twice and save everything – who knew what we could make from yoghurt pots and toilet rolls! The displays for our King’s Coronation party received special commendation and the St Mary’s Christmas tree festival always features a Stokes
All change
AT STOKES BAY WI
Bay WI fir tree with 100 (to represent our 100 members) decorations crafted by members under her guidance.
We have had fascinating meetings, exciting outings, innovative fundraising, stunning events and amazing quizzes! As leader of our ‘ship’ at Stokes Bay WI, Angela has been a steadying and encouraging point of influence and members were effuse in their praise of her undoubted skills.
It is time to move on, and Tracey Whatley takes over as President now for the next three years. Tracey has shadowed Angela for a year and is ready to move us forward with an interesting programme to come. Stokes Bay WI has just sponsored a beautiful tree at the Parish Centre in Alverstoke in recognition of our meeting place being freshly renovated. A fitting place to pass on the baton to Tracey and for our group to continue to thrive and grow.
Stokes Bay Wi meet 3rd Tuesday of the month. St Mary’s Parish Centre, Alverstoke. 10am-12noon. Our motto is ‘Inspiring Friendship and Fun’. We enjoy companionship and laughter in our meetings, outings, special events and interest groups. Find us on Facebook and www.stokesbaywi.co.uk
New President Tracey Whatley (left) with outgoing President Angela MacCallum at the handover and the SBWI tree.
£895,000 4/5 BED DETACHED. OPEN PLAN KITCHEN/DINING/ FAMILY ROOMS. LARGE SOUTHERLY GARDEN.
£565,000 EXTENDED 3 BED DET. DRIVE & PARKING. UTILITY & CLOAKROOM. ORIGINAL 1930'S FEATURES.
£455,000
2 BED DETACHED BUNGALOW ON LARGE PLOT. NO CHAIN. GARAGE & AMPLE ORP. UTILITY. CONSERVATORY.
£229,950 2 BEDROOMS. GARAGE. CLOSE TO STOKES BAY & BAY HOUSE SCHOOL. CONSERVATORY. £345,000 2 BED BUNGALOW. PRIVATE
